JOHOR BAHRU, Saturday, April 24th 2010 - UEM Land Holdings Berhad, the master developer of Nusajaya, the key driver of Iskandar Malaysia, and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), a renowned research university in Malaysia has collaborated on an initiative to develop awareness amongst young school children on climate change.

Known as ’Program Hijau UKM-UEM Land In Engaging Communities and Schools On Climate Change’, this significant event was officiated by the Vice Chancellor of UKM, Prof. Tan Sri Dato’ Dr. Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin.

The program which was initiated in December 2009, is specially designed in collaboration with UKM involving three selected UEM Land’s PINTAR Schools; Sekolah Kebangsaan Taman Nusa Perintis 1, Sekolah Kebangsaan Nusantara and Sekolah Kebangsaan Tiram Duku, based on the concept of ’smart and caring living’, one of the key tenets of the Nusajaya Green Plan launched in Dec 2009. Program Hijau is aligned with UEM Land’s principles and strategic effort in Nusajaya to ensure the sustainable development of Nusajaya through the right balance of economic, social and environment considerations.

Besides creating and raising awareness of climate change amongst young school children, the program aims to imbue them with values of respecting diversity, loving the environment and serving society. The various activities planned in the program for the students are premised on the following objectives:

• To reduce their energy consumption and reducing their energy footprint
• To encourage usage of goods, services and processes that require less energy consumption
• To substitute the loss of carbon stock via tree planting activities and to enhance the green topography in UEM Land’s PINTAR Schools

UEM Land Holdings Berhad’s Managing Director, Dato’ Wan Abdullah Wan Ibrahim said, ”As a responsible corporate citizen, UEM Land Holdings Berhad is commited to ensuring the development of Nusajaya in a sustainable manner. In addition, UEM Land seeks to manage and reduce its environment footprints as part of its contirbution towards the current global efforts in addressing the challenges of climate change.”

”We believe that early education and awareness is imperative in ensuring the success and the continuing efforts to protect the environment. Similarly, the general public can play a significant role because through their support and commitment the objective of environment conservation and mitigating the impact of climate change can be achieved,” he added.